Mark Buesgens pleads guilty to DWI three days after reelection

When State Rep. Mark Buesgens drove into a ditch and was captured on a police dash-cam spectacularly failing a field sobriety test in September, it seemed like consequences might never be the same.

After all, Buesgens was listed as the chairman of Tom Emmer's campaign committee, and Emmer was already struggling with public reaction to his own history of drunk driving.

Two months later, the scandal ends not with a bang but a whimper. The Emmer campaign, which washed its hands of Buesgens almost immediately, appears to have lost anyway, pending the by-now-obligatory recount. And this morning Buesgens pleaded guilty to his DWI, three days after handily winning reelection to his Jordan seat.

Buesgens won't be sentenced for a couple weeks, but he isn't expected to see any jail-time. Who knows, maybe he'll even be able to get all his community service done before the legislature reconvenes next year.

So there it is, the rhythm of political life, like something out of Ecclesiastes: Tom Emmer leaves the legislature, but in the same turn of the wheel, another conservative representative with a drunk-driving record takes his place.